Member consultation: Supporting Scottish co-operatives

The SNP-Scottish Green Shared Policy Programme includes a commitment to develop tailored support for co-operatives. 

Tell us what you think Scottish government should do to support co-operatives.

What are we consulting on?

To help inform policy, we are running a short consultation with Scottish co-operatives, to understand whether government could provide more tailored business support.

Through its enterprise agencies (e.g. Scottish Enterprise) and external partners, Scottish government provides businesses with advice and support in areas such as strategy, productivity, innovation and capital raising. We are keen to understand the extent to which co-operatives would benefit from more tailored support in these areas.  

We are also gathering views on how Scottish government could build on its existing support for co-operative entrepreneurship. Because of tailored support (via Co-operative Development Scotland and Community Shares Scotland) Scotland’s co-operative start-up rate is proportionally, the best of any UK nation. But it is still very low by international comparisons. In recent years South Korea has created 10 times more co-operatives per head of population. What could Scottish government do to unlock this potential? 

Why respond?

The Minister for Community Wealth Tom Arthur MSP has written to us expressing his interest in the outcomes of this consultation. Please share your views and insights - Scottish government is listening!

How to respond

We have created a short online consultation form which can be accessed here. You can also email your views to our policy officer at [email protected]. James is also keen to speak to Scottish co-operatives on a one-to-one basis so please email him for details.

The deadline for responding to this consultation is Monday 28 February 2022.